The Matchmaker

 

As a manager of a project management office, I often find myself doing the matchmaker’s job. The difference is I don’t play cupid for couples, instead I match up project managers with projects. Easy job for the money you would say. Not necessary. A wrong decision made would have a good project ruined or even the reputation of a promising project manager crushed. Just like the sacred duty of the matchmaker who ties the nuptial knot and toys with the fate of two fine souls, the task of project manager selection and assignment carries a lot of weight and responsibility in itself blessed with trust, hope and expectation of the stakeholders. It is not something mundane and easy as many of us would have believed and we should not take it too casually.

How do you pick your project manager for the job?

Depending on the domain knowledge and skillset that the individual has? Using some scheduling approaches like round-robin and first-come-first-serve? Or simply based on whoever is available? Regardless of what approach you use, just make sure you don’t leave it all to the computer to handle it as the matchmaking job is more of an art than a routine that can be defined scientifically. There are no fixed rules on 'how to select project manager’, but there are a few pointers below that may help you to get started with.

1. Balance the workload: This is common sense. We know we should not overstretch the employees by giving them too much work that they can actually handle. On the other hand, it is not easy for us to resist the temptation of giving more work and responsibility to those people that we most trust. This often results in a skewed workload distribution with a couple of ‘fortunate’ project managers being overstressed while the rest happily sitting on the cold bench. Use a resource scheduling tool or keep a resource planning sheet to track the workload of your project managers and ensure that you have a well-balanced resource utilization plan.
2. Equal opportunity: No matter what approach you use to select your project manager, you need to ensure every project manager has a fair share of participation in projects of various types and sizes. This is crucial for their individual development and growth. You may think that it is better to assign the same project manager to the same type of projects so that he or she can be specialized in that area. However, there is no harm to rotate the project manager into other types of projects occasionally to provide wider exposure and keep the interest level high. It can be really boring to keep doing the same thing over and over again.
3. The cold bench: Many people have this habit of picking up those that are left sitting on the cold bench for the next available job. This reminds me of those trucks that pick up odd job workers, or coolies, from pick-up points to be ferried to a plantation or coal mine for a day job in exchange for a couple of dimes. Availability is the only selection criterion considered. It does not matter if the resource fits the job. Imagine how bad it can be if a matchmaker just pairs up couples irresponsibly based on their availability. It is alright to first check out who is available, but you should also assess holistically to see if the person is suitable to work on the project before assigning him or her as the project manager.
4. Best for the bore: In sports like soccer and basketball, coaches will usually put in their best team for the most challenging game. The same logic applies to managers when it comes to selecting the best project manager for the most interesting and challenging project. Does this always work? Not necessary as Michael Schrage proclaimed “Put Your Best People On Your Most Boring Challenges” in his Harvard Business Review article. Try putting your best project manager in the most boring project and see if he or she still works wonders. Sometimes, the most boring job could be the most challenging one and an occasional swap like this may help to rekindle the passion and creativity in the team.
5. Domain knowledge: This is one of the most arguable and fervently debated topics. The purists would argue that a project manager should remain as a generalist, well-trained in project management skills and not necessary to have good domain knowledge, while the pragmatists would claim the opposite that having good domain knowledge would help the project manager to do better in specific type of projects. The agreement with the former argument is firmly supported in the article “Must Project Managers be Subject Matter Experts?” written by Hessel Friedlander. Unfortunately, there is no straightforward answer to this question as it depends on various factors like the nature of the project, organization culture, and the availability of supporting SMEs etc. and therefore, has to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.